Business English - Idioms and phrases | Baamboozle - Baamboozle

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Call the shots

to make the major decisions (“Ultimately, it’s the client’s choice since they call the shots.”)

The bottom line

the most important part (“It may be a good idea, but the bottom line is that it’s not profitable.”)

To be in the dark

to be uninformed (“The company merger is confidential, so we’re going to keep some employees in the dark.”)

Hit the nail on the head

to find exactly the right answer (“That’s what I was thinking — you hit the nail on the head.”)

Out on a limb

to do or say something risky (“She went out on a limb to defend my unconventional strategy.”)

The ball’s in your court

to have the responsibility or to take action (“We handed off the assets so the ball’s in your court now.”)

Punch a puppy

to do something unpleasant (“The boss was really punching a puppy when he laid off 15 people.”)

Long shot

a low likelihood of something happening (“It’s a long shot, but maybe we can convince our boss to take Fridays off.”)

To be in hot water

to be in trouble (“My coworker is in hot water after sending a rude email.”)

Back to square one

back to the beginning (“If we lose our funding for more research, it’ll be back to square one.”)

Get the ball rolling

to get started (“It’s time to get the ball rolling on the 2018 forecast.”)

Throw in the towel

to quit, to stop trying to do something, to accept failure (“After receiving negative feedback, she was ready to throw in the towel")

Burn the midnight oil

to consistently work beyond normal business hours (“Our manager is burning the midnight oil to meet every deadline.”)

Stay on your toes

to stay alert (“There will be random testing on this, so stay on your toes.”)

Peel the onion

to look at something one layer at a time (“Let’s peel the onion to figure out where we messed up.”)

Have a lot on your plate

to have a lot of responsibilities (“I have a lot on my plate since my supervisor quit last week.”)

Learning curve

the rate of gaining experience or new skills (“New employees usually have a learning curve.”)

Think outside the box

to go beyond a normal idea (“Stop looking at past examples and think outside the box.”)

Change of pace

to do something different from a normal routine (“Company outings are a nice change of pace from our regular work week.”)

Rock the boat

to disturb a situation (“The team is finally working well together. A new hire may rock the boat.”)

Get your foot in the door

to enter an organization or industry (“A coffee meeting can help you get your foot in the door with prospective clients.”)

Crunch the numbers

to do a lot of calculations in order to solve a problem (“We’ll need to crunch the numbers to make sure we can afford this.”)

Cut corners

to do something the easiest or quickest way (“Cutting corners on case studies will result in careless errors.”)

Raise the bar

to raise standards or expectations ("The team must raise the bar if we want to win a customer service award.”)

Up to speed

to be familiar with current information (“We have a new team member starting this week. Can everyone help him get up to speed on our accounts?”)

24/7

24 hours a day, seven days a week (“He’s in the office 24/7 due to his heavy workload.”)

Off the top of one’s head

to know immediately from what you have in your memory (“I can’t think of any ideas off the top of my head; I’ll have to do more research.”)

Jump the gun

to do something early or before the right time (“Next time, do more research instead of jumping the gun.”)

Glass ceiling

a metaphorical barrier preventing advancement to a higher position (“I think there’s a glass ceiling because I don’t see any room for growth here.)

See eye to eye

to agree (“My boss and I don’t always see eye to eye on reporting techniques.”)

Cut to the chase

to get to the point without wasting time (“Stop talking about irrelevant statistics and cut to the chase.”)

Fine print

details of a contract that are usually overlooked (“Always read the fine print before signing a contract.”)

Ballpark figure

a rough estimate (“If you don’t know the exact cost, just give a ballpark figure.”)

It’s not rocket science

it's not complicated or difficult to understand (“Just look up the answer online; it’s not rocket science.”)

On the back burner

low priority (“Put that report on the back burner and focus on new business.”)

Ramp up

to increase (“The team needs to ramp up productivity in order to meet their deadlines.”)

Thought shower / Brainstorm

to come up with a bunch of ideas (“We need a thought shower to come up with new ideas.”)

Back to the drawing board

to start again after a plan or idea was not successful (“The client rejected our original concept, so it’s back to the drawing board.”)

Small talk

a discussion about everyday topics (“The employees made small talk about their weekends while waiting outside the board room.”)

Have your work cut out

to have something very difficult to do (“She has her work cut out for her when it comes to training the new team.”)

Blue-sky thinking

ideas that are feasible in a perfect world (“The manager’s blue-sky thinking always resulted in unrealistic expectations.”)

On the same page

to have a shared understanding with others (“Let’s all communicate constantly so we are on the same page.”)

In the red

to be in debt (“If my company loses this client, we’ll be in the red for months.”)

Slack off

to work lazily (“Don’t expect a promotion if you’re constantly slacking off.”)

By the book

to do something by law or rule (“The company fired the CEO for not doing things by the book.”)

For the long haul

A long period of time (“The new business pitch will be hard work, but we’re in it for the long haul.”)

Back to square one

Back to the beginning (“If we lose our funding for more research, it’ll be back to square one.”)

Close of play

the end of a working day (“You need to finish the audit by close of play.”)

Miss the mark

to fail to achieve an intended goal (“Please redo the presentation since you missed the mark the first time.”)